bringing me ever so closer to you
by rice-paper-tigers
Summary: the saltwater waves buoy her above the sea and she gasps for air. Post HoH Percabeth. K for character death.
1. please do not leave

_pairing: percabeth_

_disclaimer: i don't own pjo_

_A/N i'm sorry for this guys but I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS, OKAY_

* * *

"No."

"I've got to do this, Annabeth. It's my destiny."

"No!" she pleads, voice cracking and whimpering. "No please don't. We'll find another way. Percy, _no._ Don't leave me here please just-"

"I love you, Annebeth."

"NO!"

the doors of Epirus shut.

six of the seven are outside, safe.

one is not.

and despite his best efforts to save her, annabeth is lost.

.

when Epirus closes, whatever made annabeth tick was absent.

five barely manage to restrain her from throwing herself back in to tartarus.

they let go when the doors clang shut.

she flings herself at the engravings, screaming for percy and unfairness and

_oh gods, what have we done?_

they let her scream until her lungs run dry.

when they pull her away, she doesn't resist. she is spent.

none of them can bear to look into her eyes.

.

when they board the argo ii, she goes and sits in percy's room.

no one has the heart to move her.

the son of death cannot console her.

the kaleidoscope-eyed girl can barely sway her to eat.

the former amnesiac avoids her completely

the elf man-boy blames himself.

_(he should have been the one. he doesn't have an annebeth to grieve for him.)_

.

the argo ii lands in camp half-blood.

annabeth stands up, her stiff joints protesting every movement.

she walks off the tireme. no one stops her. no one intercepts her.

she walks to cabin three and weeps.

_you always had a hero complex but did you have to die?_

.

there was seven, but now,

there are only five.

_(because annabeth isn't really all here.)_

she shows up for meals.

_one step forward._

she sits at table three.

_two steps back._

_._

her eyes are ringed by shadows.

she hasn't spoken to anyone since percy.

it's almost like she wants to save that last exchange on her lips.

she becomes a waif, a ghost, a shadow.

new campers ask about her.

"_who's that?"_

Pause.

_(she used to somebody but now he's dead and she might as well be too.)_

"that's annabeth."

they don't explain because they don't know how.

.

percy wouldn't want to see her like this.

she knows that.

so she picks up her broken pieces,

dusts the cobwebs from her mind,

and step by step, she is (almost) whole again.

_(there's just one puzzle piece missing but she know she will never find it.)_

.

it's been a year and a day since percy died and she goes to the beach for the first time since.

_(if she closes her eyes she can almost imagine he's there.)_

ankle deep.

_(he's never coming back)_

waves splash her knees.

_(he doesn't need to come back.)_

waist deep.

_(because someday I'll go find him.)_

stomach.

_(I'll live this life the best I can and wait to be with him.)_

shoulders.

_(because life goes on.)_

neck

_(and I'll see him eventually)_

she presses her lips shut but saltwater creeps in anyways.

_(and I'll be fine.)_

water closes over her head.

_(as long as we're together.)_

the saltwater waves buoy her above the sea and she gasps for air.

the currents carry her back to shore.

she sets foot on solid ground,

and starts living again.

* * *

A/N _oh rick if you do this i will personally start a fandom-wide manhunt_

_Please review, it makes my day._


	2. i've only just started loving you

_pairing: percabeth_

_disclaimer: i don't own pjo_

_A/N: i dunno gaiz. why is everything i write so sad?_

* * *

a goddess once told you that you would face a sacrifice that you could not make.

oh, how wrong she was.

_(it was all too easy to make.)_

you made the sacrifice, and look:

the world didn't end.

_(you tried your best, but did you really save her?)_

.

when the doors of death close, Epirus swallows you whole.

you don't even try to fight your way out.

the minotaur, you old enemy, descends upon you in the pitch black.

_(you can imagine his grotesque smile.)_

lifeblood flows out of you.

.

next thing you know, you're at DOA studios

_(again)_

Charon doesn't even ask your name.

you follow him wordlessly to the ferry.

_(as you cross the styx, you can see a photo of a young girl with green eyes and blonde curls.)_

you remember annabeth mentioning that the styx was littered with abandoned dreams.

_(oh, the fates are cruel.)_

.

hades himself stands at your trial.

Elysium, of course.

you pass through the gates to a grassy field that looks an awful lot like camp.

never ending days,

never ending sun.

_(there's only one thing missing.)_

.

you see your old friends.

_(most of them)_

silena and beckendorf, happy at last.

michael yew shoots golden arrows at pigeons.

even luke is there.

you're almost at peace.

_(almost)_

.

there's s shimmering pool of misty water with annabeth in it.

so you can watch over.

_(she's falling apart, breaking at the seams.)_

did you really do this to her?

.

she's drowning herself.

_(no, no. this can't be happening.)_

you leave.

no-one tries to stop you.

your spirit flits up through the earth, into the ocean.

you become the waves.

you fill her lungs with life.

_(you don't know if she knows it's you, but it doesn't matter.)_

_._

she's safe now.

you never understood before when the gods speak of human lives as such fleeting things.

_(she joins you much sooner than expected.)_

you watch a rogue drakon invade camp.

she shoves a new Demeter girl, a tiny thing, out of the way.

drakons have very sharp claws.

human skin is so pliant.

.

_(the tide is rising, my love. soon we shall be together.)_

_._

and as you watch her walk into Elysium with a light in her eyes, you realize that it's worth it.

all the pain. all the suffering. all of it.

_(as long as we're together.)_

_._

_and as their stories are told, they live on. not one camper doesn't know the tale of percy and annabeth._

_they never got a happy ending, and yet,_

_somehow they did._


End file.
